Xiaomi is pretty much ready to announce its latest flagship smartphone, the Xiaomi Mi 7. An official date hasn’t been announced yet, but the company did reveal that it is holding an event in China very soon.

Rumors have suggested that Xiaomi would launch the Mi 7 on May 23th, but that is not confirmed. It launched the Mi 6 in April last year, so we were actually expecting the successor to be announced around the same time this year. It must also be noted that Xiaomi is expected to launch the Mi 8 as well, which is touted to be an eighth anniversary edition. Some of the previous reports had also suggested that Xiaomi might skip the Mi 7 and launch the Mi 8 instead. However, with each passing day, new reports are surfacing and the latest one hints that the Mi 7 could come with a Face ID feature as seen on the iPhone X. Keep reading to know about it.

Mi 7: Face ID Integration

As we all know, the Xiaomi Mi 7 will be the flagship smartphone from the company for 2018. The latest report about the upcoming device suggests that Xiaomi might be incorporating an iPhone X-like feature in the Mi 7.

The 2018 flagship from Xiaomi could very likely feature a 3D face mapping setup similar to the one found on the iPhone X. There were reports of a 3D face unlock feature to be present on the device, but there was no concrete evidence. However, new images of the ‘notch’ reveal a more complicated setup with an array of sensors.

Android phones in 2018 have caught up with the ‘notch’ trend, which is where the front facing camera, sensors, and the earpiece are placed. On Android devices, face unlock is only done using the front camera. It isn’t very secure, nor very accurate. On the iPhone X, all the other sensors help make the feature very secure, and that seems to be the case with the Mi 7 as well.

Looks like the Mi 7 might have a proper secure Face unlock feature that includes an IR blaster, a 3D depth sensor and other sensors. At least, that’s what the leaked images tell us. It’s a good thing though, as this could pave the way for other Android smartphone manufacturers to provide 3D face tracking and sensing technology as well.

Mi 7: Rumoured Specifications and Features

Rumors and reports about the Mi 7 have been plenty. The new Xiaomi device is said to come with a 5.65-inch full HD+ display that has a 19:9 aspect ratio. And as we’ve already discussed, there will be a rather large ‘notch’ that will house the 3D Face recognition technology.

Apart from that, the Mi 7 is said to house the latest Snapdragon 845 SoC, up to 6GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. Another variant with 8GB of RAM could also be announced. Some reports have also suggested that Xiaomi could announce a Mi 8 Anniversary Edition, as the company turns 8 this year. We’re not very sure about this though, let’s just wait to find out.

As for the optics, a dual-camera setup would be present at the back of the device. The camera software would be enhanced with AI, as is the trend these days. Both the camera units at the back will be of 16MP resolution and the front camera is a 13MP unit. You also get Bluetooth 5.0 LE, an IR blaster, 4000mAh battery, and wireless charging.

The rumors also say that the phone might feature an in-display fingerprint sensor as well. As for the software, Xiaomi will ship the Mi 7 with Android 8.1 Oreo with the MIUI 10 interface. You will get plenty of Xiaomi apps and features.

Mi 7: Launch Date and Expected Price in India

The rumored launch date for the Xiaomi Mi 7 is said to be May 23rd. This is the China launch date apparently, but the information could be wrong. Xiaomi did announce recently that they’re gearing up for a product launch in Shenzhen, China, very soon. We should be given more details very soon, hopefully. We expect the launch to happen by the end of this month.

The pricing of Xiaomi’s Mi devices have always been very competitive. And that would be the same case with the Mi 7 as well. We expect the 64GB variant to be priced around Rs 31,000. This is for the base variant, while the top-end model with 6/8GB of RAM could cost around Rs. 38,000. The Xiaomi Mi 7 would be competing against the likes of the OnePlus 6, Honor 10, Samsung’s Galaxy S9, and even the iPhone X.

Sid is one of our most active writers. He has previously worked with tech blogs like AndroidSoul and N4BB. Having dedicated his years on writing about consumer electronics and enlightening the readers on every new gadget on the block, Sid can very well be tagged as an expert when it comes to smartphones.